


Longer Than The Road That Stretches Out Ahead

by pearl_o



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-03
Updated: 2011-07-03
Packaged: 2017-10-20 23:43:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/218378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pearl_o/pseuds/pearl_o
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You know that I am not here to stay, or to try some sort of treaty between us," Erik says.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Longer Than The Road That Stretches Out Ahead

When Erik comes, he is alone. He wears his civilian clothes and no helmet. He walks up to the house and knocks on the door.

Hank and Alex and Sean see him as the enemy, naturally, and they attempt to attack him - Charles has to use his powers to stop them, freeze them before they can do any harm, before Erik strikes back, as he surely would to protect himself.

He speaks to them in a low voice, and however well they disguise it in their faces, he can feel their surprise at the anger they've never heard from him before. We are the better men; violence is not the answer, any more than it is against non-mutants. Erik had come openly, defenses down, as a guest in this house, and he would be treated as such.

Surprised, confused, a little angry themselves, but they do as Charles says, even if they do glare as they exit the room. The old Erik would have been somewhat amused by the scene, but instead he looks, feels, only tired. He looks much older than he did when Charles saw him last, not so many months ago. Charles chooses not to see if he has aged as much in Erik's eyes; he doesn't believe he would like the answer he would find.

"You know that I am not here to stay, or to try some sort of treaty between us," Erik says, letting the words fall on the hard marble floor between them.

It would be cruel for Charles to ask why Erik is there. He knows why, knows in a way that has nothing to do with his powers, and he knows, further, that Erik would not be able to say it easily. And instead of challenging him, well, Charles will take this as a gift, instead, and respond with gratitude. It's something he's been lacking in well enough, lately.

"I know," Charles says. He wheels himself across the room slowly, Erik's eyes following the metal frame of his chair as he moves. He stops by Erik's side, and reaches out his hand; Erik takes it with only the slightest hesitation.

"I do have one question," Charles says. "Raven. Is she -- will she--?"

Erik's face is still as always, but Charles can feel his pained sympathy. "She can't, Charles. You, this house - it would be too much to ask of her."

Charles nods, unsurprised by the answer. He knows Raven is lost, lost in a way that he will never get back; she is one who has to burn bridges to move on. Not like he and Erik, who somehow still hold these two opposing thoughts in their mind, the good and the bad, in a way that perhaps should be more difficult than it is right now. Perhaps will become more difficult, though for now, even through his sorrow, he feels only a sense of relief, of rightness at the feel of Erik's skin on his, of the familiar touch of Erik's surface thoughts in his head.

The last time they were together in this room, Charles was bent over the windowsill, sucking in deep, desperate breaths of cool night air as Erik fucked him in strong, rough, seemingly relentless movements. Charles bit his own arm as he came, muffling his sounds so none of the others might hear the two of them. Afterwards, on the couch, Erik had fallen asleep, laying down with his head in Charles's lap. Charles had scratched his fingers gently against Erik's scalp as he slept, sending him gentleness and calm in his sleep until Erik could relax, asleep and unprotected in the presence of another person for the first time since his childhood. A gift, a gift Charles could give him, one Erik would accept; something to make up for all the things Charles took.

He is projecting some of those memories, and Erik is affected by them, too. There's a moment of awkwardness as Erik goes to kiss him, between the angles and heights (it's hard to remember that Erik has never been around him in his chair, when this has been Charles's _life_ without pause). The anger sputters through Erik at the reminder, but Charles pushes it away.

"Now is not the time, my friend," Charles says.

Erik stiffens a little, and the anger is not totally gone, but there is something like amusement in him, too, as he says, "Another for the list of things we will not talk about, eh, Charles? What will it leave us, I wonder?"

"It leaves everything," Charles says, firmly; "there is still everything left. We believe different things, but we are still the people we ever were."

 _Charles_. Erik says nothing out loud, merely cups his hand on Charles's jaw. Charles closes his eyes, turns his face into the touch. He can feel Erik's wonder, loud and clear, his utter astonishment at Charles's capacity to hope. Erik is a strong man, one of the strongest Charles has known, but there are things that he is missing, and that is one of them: hope.

And it's that, Charles knows, that will be the difference between them. That is why Charles will win, because it may take years, but he will wear Erik down, show him by example, until even Erik cannot resist, even Erik will learn, even Erik will see the way things can be. And then, and only then, will they want the same things, and be able to be by each other's side, for more than stolen moments of détente.

But this is only the first meeting, the first time, and so Charles simply kisses the palm of Erik's hand, and then leads him further into the mansion.


End file.
